"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be."-- Douglas Adams

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Men in Black II (2002)

Note: This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

Sequels are difficult. If a movie is successful, there’s pressure to do
another one in hopes of making more money. When the first Men in Black
did well, a second MIB was released. In this installment, we have
Agents J (Will Smith) and K (Tommy Lee Jones) returning. For those that
didn’t see the first, K had ‘retired’ by having J erase his memories. K
is now Kevin Brown, a Postal worker. J has gone through a few partners
since the end of the last movie.

J has been successful in
helping the MIB to defend Earth against aliens and the like. One day,
though, Serleena shows up. She’s looking for The Light of Zartha. She
finds someone that may know something. When information isn’t
forthcoming, she kills him in front of a hidden witness, Laura Vasquez.
Serleena eventually takes over MIB headquarters looking for answers.
The problem is that only K knows exactly what and where The Light is. J
has to restore K’s memories and fast.

Once done, K reveals that
The Light isn’t even supposed to be on Earth. The Zarthaians came to
Earth hoping that the MIB would protect The Light, but it was too
dangerous and they refused. Serleena isn’t willing to accept this.
She’s intent on getting The Light. If you’ve seen the coming
attractions for Men in Black 3, you can assume that J and K save the
day.

I’ll admit that Men in Black 2 does fall into some of the
traps common to sequels. It did seem to rely heavily on characters from
the previous movies. Frank the Pug has an expanded role in this movie,
delivering a few funny lines. Instead of K being the senior officer
bringing J into the organization, J is the one telling K what’s what and
hoping that he accepts it.

There are new characters, but there
is a sense of familiarity. It was a big action movie with comedic
elements. You have an alien demanding something that the MIB are at a
loss to find. I didn’t mind. There was enough original material that
it seemed new, overall. Also, you have Rosario Dawson as Laura. I
can’t say I can complain about that.

Men in Black and Men in
Black 2 should be watched in order. You could probably watch this movie
first, but you may miss a few things. It will also ruin certain
elements of the first movie that will be ruined if you watch this one
first. They were meant to be watched in order. (Men in Black 3 doesn’t
seem to rely as heavily on these two movies, although I would still
recommend watching in order.) If you liked the first movie, I’d
recommend watching this one.